Several countries offer to help Ukraine return captives and exiled civilians
Source: Office of the Ukrainian President
At a Ministerial Conference on the Human Dimension of the Peace Formula held in Montreal, participants issued a joint communiqué pledging to assist Ukraine in returning all prisoners and deported citizens. The conference members agreed to strengthen Ukraine’s collaboration with international partners and organizations to address humanitarian issues and uphold the Geneva Conventions.
The initiative will need to decide on what countries can act as ‘trusted intermediaries’ on the issue. The conference participant also proposed to set up some scheme that will provide consular services to Ukrainians temporarily residing in Russia.
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly name the countries who reached out to Ukaine.
“I extend my gratitude to Qatar, the Vatican, and South Africa for their role as mediators in negotiating the return of children. I also thank Qatar and Lithuania for serving as transit countries in bringing these children home. Additionally, I appreciate the United Arab Emirates for continuing to mediate discussions on prisoner exchanges,” Joly stated.
The conference established a group of nations that will gather information on captives, including children, and verifying data to support Ukraine’s efforts.
The effort will also launch communication campaigns to raise awareness of Russia’s unlawful detention, mistreatment of Ukrainian civilians and POWs, and the deportation and forced relocation of children.
In 2025, the deadliest year yet for civilians, Ukraine’s three largest charitable foundations raised a record 105.9 billion hryvnias. It is more than the years 2022–2024 combined. According to the UN, humanitarian aid in Ukraine was delivered by more than 450 organisations, reaching five million people over the course of the year. Civic foundations hold licences to purchase lethal weapons, which is a function states have monopolised for centuries. These record sums were underwritten by international government grants, which means foreign states now channel billions directly through Ukrainian civic funds, bypassing inter-state channels. It is hard to imagine a stronger institutional trust in civil society.
During the GLOBSEC Defence Forum 2026 in Prague, representatives of “Steel Front”, an initiative by Rinat Akhmetov, discussed with NATO delegations, military officials, and representatives of the European defense industry the lessons learned from Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
After the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine witnessed an unprecedented wave of private support for the army. Citizens, big businesses, charitable foundations, and international philanthropists began financing the country’s defense alongside state assistance provided by international partners. Estimates of total private contributions range from tens to hundreds of billions of hryvnias. However, determining the exact amount remains difficult. In many cases, companies combine military aid, humanitarian programs, tax payments, social spending, and employee support in their reporting.
Rinat Akhmetov’s military initiative, “Steel Front”, has delivered a batch of drones worth UAH 214 million to the 1st “Azov” Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine. This shipment is part of the Metinvest Group’s ongoing support for the unit in 2025.
On October 6, the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court of Ukraine continued hearing case No. 990/80/25, in which the fifth President and leader of the party “European Solidarity”, Petro Poroshenko, seeks to have Presidential Decree No. 81/2025 from February 12, 2025 — enacting sanctions by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) — declared illegal and annulled. The plaintiff claims the document was falsified and that the sanctions are a tool of political persecution of the opposition, contrary to international norms. Government representatives deny the allegations and insist their actions were lawful. Journalists of Bukvy were present at the hearing.